No sounds of a highway at this home- just a few passers-by for an afternoon drive and some local residents driving down gravel County Road 345 between Crane and Savage. Brady and Nicki Reuter, along with their three girls, feel blessed to have just this kind of place to call home.
Brady works for the family business in the oilfield, while Nicki is grateful to be a stay-at-home mom. Welcome to the Reuter home in the middle of many acres of grain and sugar beets-a calm retreat in the farmland.
This residence was previously owned by the Jonasen’s, Henry Nollmeyer’s and most recently Murlene Nollmeyer Hogenson’s family. It has also been rented by the Eichelbergers, Fells and Damms. The place was a typical farm house back in the day, and was considered to be large at about 1,200 square feet. Today Reuter’s have built their colonial country home up to about 4,500 square feet.
The home sits on a basement foundation, which was original to the old farm house, but now has an unlivable basement-dark, musty, and scary! “No – we don’t go down there much,” Nicki says. “It’s a little icky down there.” The main floor holds a living and dining room, a country kitchen, office, bathroom and large foyer to two exterior doors, along with a door to the double-car garage with beautiful, large carriage doors.
Now that foyer is filled with Brian Rasmussen’s (2U Log Furniture) log work, houses a massive staircase and balcony over-looking into the kitchen, and opens up into a beautiful living and play area for the girls and their friends. It’s also the TV area with plenty of seating. Up here, one can enjoy watching the large flat screen TV, set in a custom, rustic style Dura Supreme entertainment center from Creative Solutions, enjoy the large collection of family photos by Picture Perfect Photography and art work or simply gaze out the window at the peaceful farm land that surrounds them. This area veers off into 4 bedrooms, the master bedroom suite, 2 bathrooms, a play room for the girls and the laundry room. All of the bedrooms feature LifeSpan Closet Organizers and the bathrooms have custom tile work and unique cabinet layouts. Knotty Alder doors and trim, also from Creative Solutions, further enhance the rustic feel of this section of the home.
Nine years ago, Brady purchased the residence, then soon his new bride moved in, and Nicki knew exactly what this house would look like after the remodel job- before their construction began. “I would change a lot in this house, but structurally we couldn’t do everything I wanted,” she said. “I drew out a lot of plans on graft paper. I dreamed of more, but I love how it turned out with what we had to work with.” Although Nicki couldn’t get things to work out exactly how she wanted them, such as moving walls, etc., the home fits the family’s needs today and they should be very proud of their accomplishment.
Many men have said they cannot see the finished picture of a home before it’s completed and Brady is no exception. He said, “I’m bad about seeing something before it’s done. I see things like the Geo Thermal unit, electrical and plumbing things, not paint, furniture, etc.” But he sure is happy that his wife has got a visual eye! The couple did most of the remodel themselves, but with some assistance along the way.
The first space the couple started remodeling was the living and dining room, along with the kitchen. Colors of rich burgundy are throughout the living and dining area with many windows to view the land around the house. The kitchen is a gathering place with archways at the bar where everyone can watch “mom” cook in luxury. (These archways were designed to hide a beam to hold up the upper part of the house). Nicki called on Brenda Larson of Creative Solutions to help with her design choices throughout the kitchen. Nicki chose Rustic Hickory Umber Cabinets with a beautiful Basil solid surface counter top by Ed Deg, stainless steel appliances, and Nicki’s own unique texture is on the walls. A recent project that has come to completion is the wrap around porch. The girls have plenty of space to run before landing their toes in lush grass on this porch!
During destruction and construction, Brady and Nicki had to climb a ladder to get to the bedrooms upstairs. “We slowly built as we could afford, and it’s been in progress for six years,” Nicki said. Brady has a couple of favorite places in their home: one is the master bedroom with the sitting area. “We’ve got a huge couch up there, and I enjoy walking into the room and want to just sit and relax in that space.” He claims he doesn’t get to do that much, but the thought is there on many occasion. He also enjoys the spaciousness of the family room and its design. Nicki enjoys walking in the back hall and thinks about how they figured out the openness, but the kitchen is a pleasant place to be as well as there is always a hungry mouth to feed.
While you tour this home, check out the many drywall textures, as Nicki had lots of fun challenging herself on the next room’s wall design. You will get to tour all the rooms in this home-except for that scary basement!
Why did this couple want to be a part of this event? Nicki says, “I’m lucky that I get to be a stay-at-home- mom. There are many people who don’t have that luxury, and children need somewhere to go after school with supervision. The Boys and Girls Club has activities, along with school help. It’s a great club. As young parents, we can see the need for something like this.”
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